Guardianship
by Sabenty
Summary: Harry Dresden's brother, James Potter, and his wife, are killed by the Dark Lord. McGonagall looks to him to look after his now orphaned nephew, Harry Potter. Now not only does he have to deal with the usual dangerous supernatural spooks, he has to take care of a child on top of that! Both Harrys have supernatural baddies looking to kill them. Can they manage?
1. Chapter 1

Harry was sitting at his desk in his office, going over the bills when his phone rang.

He sighed and picked it up, rubbing his eyes tiredly. 'It's late... who the hell is calling me now?'

"Harry Dresden, wizard detective. How can I help you?"

An older woman's voice answered on the other end.

"Hello, mister Dresden. This is Minerva McGonagall. I have some very bad news."

Harry sat up straighter and listened more intently.

"What is it?"

"Your brother, and his wife were murdered tonight."

He dropped the phone, eyes and mouth wide with shock. Quickly he scooped it back up and held it back to his head.

"What?! How the hell did this happen?!"

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. He murdered them."

Inhaling sharply, Harry asked her to give him a minute.

'Voldemort. James told me about him... that they were in danger. I just never thought the bastard would kill him. Lily... and...'

Harry's eyes widened again.

"Wait! They had a kid. Is he...?"

"No, mister Dresden. Young mister Harry is still alive. But he's in need of a Guardian, which is also why I am calling."

"Me? You want me to look after a kid."

"Yes."

"And there's no one else who can do it?"

"His godfather, Sirius Black, is the one who led He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to the Potter's. And his mother's sister and husband are not even close to being fit Guardians. Please, mister Dresden. You're the only person who can reasonably care for him. Naturally you will recieve payment enough to care for the child. He is your nephew, please consider."

Harry leaned back in his seat and sighed.

'What should I do? This kid's got no where to go. But can I really take care of a child?'

He picked up the phone again.

"I'll do it. Where do I need to go to get the kid?"

"Worry not, mister Dresden. We'll bring young Harry to you. Thank you very much, I'm sure this is the best course of action for everyone involved."

"Yeah, yeah. Just bring the kid over in like, an hour. I'll be ready then."

"Very well, mister Dresden. We'll see you then."

"'Kay, see you."

He hung up the phone.

"Great. Hopefully this won't be as hard as it seems. It's just one kid, right? No harm."

'Come to think of it, though. How did a baby survive a murderous dark wizard?'

Eh, it'll be fine.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Woah! this blew up! I went to bed right after posting and checked my email in the afternoon. My inbox was FULL of following alerts and one review i couldnt quite decipher...Seriously l3ct0r, what are you trying to say? Anyway thanks for all the feedback guys! Please review to let me know what you like best and what youd like to see. If it fits with my plan ill add it in :)**

It was three-thirty in the morning when they arrived.

Harry spent the last hour cleaning his home, making it look presentable for his nephew. He cleaned out Mister's litter box and the whole kitchen in general. After that he sweeped out the fireplace. He lit the fresh wood, giving the room a warm glow. The livingroom, his room, and the bathroom were all also cleaned. Lastly, he took care of himself. Shaved, showered, and put on some presentable clothes. He didn't want them to think he was a slob!

When he heard the knock, he had just finished getting ready. Exhaling, Harry went and opened the door. There stood an older woman, a giant, hairy beast, of a man, and an obscenely older man. The giant was holding a small bundle and weeping, carrying a bag over his shoulder.

"Mister Dresden, I presume?" Said the old guy.

"That's what they call me" Harry crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. "Want to come in?"

"Yes, that'd be ideal."

Harry led the three inside and shut the door. He gestured for them to sit on his frumpy, old couch and stoked the fire.

"So, details. About the kid. What exactly do I gotta do?"

"Well you need to feed, bathe, change-"

"Not _that!_ I know about that, I mean, is there anything special I need to do?"

"Ah, I apologise. Hm... Well naturally he will go to muggle-"

"Muggle?"

"Non magical"

"Ah"

"Yes. He will go to muggle schooling, or you can educate him yourself. If he begins to expirience magical abilities, we will be alerted and he will be urged to attend Hogwarts at 11."

"Hogwarts... that's like, far. Will we have to move?"

"No, mister Dresden. It's a boarding school. You'll only need to drop him off and pick him up for summer and holidays."

"Oh. That's a lot easier. Kay, what else?"

"There is a strong chance some of the Dark Lord's followers will be after young mister Potter."

"Yikes"

"Indeed. But he will be safe. His blood relation to you will see to that. As cliche as it sounds, your love for him will keep him safe. That and you are a more than capable wizard yourself."

"Well, I don't like to toot my own horn..."

"Anyhow. We know you will take very good care of him. We collected his remaining clothing, food, toys and other items that survived the... destruction. You will recieve payments in the form of 1,000 US dollars per month."

Harry gaped.

"Where did you get that kind of money?!"

"Harry's parents left him a large fortune. That payment won't even dent it."

"Er... alright then. Anything else?"

"I believe that's all. I will send a professor here every once in a while to check in on how you two are doing."

"Sounds good, I guess. Don't really mind that."

The beast-man handed the baby Harry over, but not before giving him kisses and sobbing loudly. He also handed the older Harry the large bag of baby stuff.

The trio made their way to the door.

"We will be in touch, mister Dresden."

"Yea alright. Happy travels."

They left with that.

Harry sighed and sat on the couch, cradling his baby nephew in his arms.

"This is gonna be tough..."

He looked down into his nephews sleeping face. Adult Harry smiled a gentle smile and lightly rubbed the baby's cheek.

"It'll be worth it."

The two sat like that for an hour. Eventually Harry fell asleep on the ouch, but clutched tight to his nephew. The two slept soundly through the night.

Unaware of the figure outside of the window, watching.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: wow! bigger turn out! thanks all, keep the feedback comin! :)**

**and actually Sakura, I already have that covered, dont worry :) (she suggested Harry D having Harry P's name changed, he's just gonna call him Junior guys, so it'll get less confusing soon I promise!)**

Harry awoke to a loud wailing in the early rays of light. Suddenly alert, he jumped to his feet. Immedietly he realised the baby Harry was not in his arms, and instead he was floating right near the window, wailing. A hooded figure stood in the window, arms outstretched to grab baby Harry.

"HARRY!"

Dresden lunged and grabbed th baby, holding him close to his chest and pulling him inside. The hooded person made a mad dash to escape. Dresden hurried outside, but it was too late. Somehow they'd just... vanished.

"Dammit..." Dresden rubbed his face and went back inside. He ran a diagnostic spell over Harry, who seemed to be doing fine.

Baby Harry babbled incoherently as his uncle made sure there were no spells, hexes, or curses on him.

"at least youre not hurt. Whoever that was is going to pay if they get back here..."

"Bwah!" his nephew squealed.

Harry pretended that he was agreeing.

"Alright alright. Hungry then? I guess we're awake for the day now."

Baby Harry watched as his uncle left the room to make his bottle. He squealed happily when he came back and reached out to him.

Dresden couldn't help but smile. Hey, atleast _someone's_ excited to see me!

After feeding, burping, bathing, and dressing his nephew, Dresden decided it'd be a good idea to get the kiddo acquainted with the various friends in his life. Maybe they'd be able to give some insight or help or something.

He headed outside, preparing to go into the Blue Beetle, his beaten up old VW Bug that was more rainbow now than blue, but thought better of it.

"Yeah... taking you places in that piece would probably constitute as child endagerment. We can walk. Exercise is good!"

"Wah!" his nephew cheered in agreement.

Dresden grinned and walked down the street, deciding to head to Murphy's place. She had the day off and was probably relaxing at home. What's more relaxing than a recently orphaned baby?

Eventually they made it, though it took a lot longer than expected. Dresden knocked, and a moment later Murphy opened the door.

Her blonde curls were covered by a baseball cap. She wore a lose t-shirt and jean shorts. In one hand was a beer and the other a gun, just in case I guess.

"Hey Dresden what- What the _hell_ is that?!"

"A baby, Murph. Can we come in? My dogs are barking!"

She moved aside and let them in.

"Harry, where on earth did you get a baby?"

"Long story. Wanna hear it? It's a good one!"

He sat on her couch comfortably, and his nephew snuggled up against his chest.

"Uh, I guess."

"Great. So this kid is my nephew. His name is Harry, too"

She snorted at that but kept quiet, listening to her friend with interest.

"Anyway, he's my brothers kid. Thing with my brother is a whole 'nother can of worms. Him and his wife lived in Britain, where a dangerous Sorcerer had been gaining power"

"This is sounding like a book."

"Yea, but it's true. So, evil guy is after my brother and nephew. My brother, James, was tough and openly against this evil dude. James' friend tells evil dude where he lives and dude shows up, kills James, his wife and tries to kill this kid here. Somehow the kiddo survived. This old chick calls me, tells me what happened, then comes over with a giant man, and an obscenely old guy and drop the kid with me. All this happened last night. The End!"

Karrin stared at him, gaping. Eventually she found her words.

"I'm so sorry Dresden.. about your brother and his wife."

"I'm coping. More worried about this munchkin here. I tend to live an unstable lifestyle..."

Harry made it a point to not tell Murphy about this morning.

"And I'll have to explain all this to him as soon as he's old enough to understand."

"It'll be hard. But I'm here for you, and I bet your Knight friend will be too."

Harry grinned and nodded.

"So anyways, it took forever to get here! Can we hang out for a little? Pleeeaaase?"

Both Harrys gave her big, pouty, puppy-dog eyes. Naturally she caved.

Groaning, she set her beer down.

"Fine. But let's do something out back. Kid's need fresh air."

Karrin led the way into her backyard. It was adorable. Neatly cut lawn, big wooden fence, and a little garden.

Since Harry likes living, he decided to keep quiet. Instead he sat on the ground and set his nephew in his lap. Murphy sat across from them, which the baby took to mean he could crawl over and snuggle on her lap.

She looked flustered when he did that. Baby Harry smiled a toothless smile at her and started babbling nonsense. Karrin relaxed eventually and listened. She gave occaisonal "oh?"'s and "mhm"'s, as if they were having a conversation. Baby Harry _loved_ it.

The three stayed outside like that for ours, talking and playing. They went in for lunch, luckily Harry brought baby Harry's bag so he had his food too. After lunch Harry had his nap, so the adults took to talking.

"It's confusing having two Harry's"

"Yeah. I think im just gonna call him Junior."

"What do I call him then?"

"I 'unno. That's your thing" He grinned at her, which made her roll her eyes.

Eventually they had to leave. "Junior" was still asleep, so Harry held him gently. Before they left, Murphy made sure to remind him that she'd be there if they needed anything.

"There's a baby involved in your idiocy now. I'm Chicago PD, so I'll have both your backs covered now."

Harry grinned and thanked her before walking home. It had been a really good day.

Until a shadow jumped out of an alley and attacked.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: whoooops i ain't updated in forever!**

"Give us the child!"

"Ah! Shit!" Harry stumbled back to avoid a stream of red magic. His shout awoke the baby Harry who began screaming and wailing.

"Stupefy!" came a cry. Another stream of red magic shot out towards them.

Harry held the babybag in front of them and it flew out of his hands.

'Fuck! I can't fight with the kid right here!' Harry groaned and tucked his nephew under his shirt and ducked his head down low. Squaring his shoulders, Harry ran as fast as he could away from the deranged wizards. Which, all things considered, was pretty fast.

Spells were still being flung but Harry's quickness helped him evade them. He made it back to his apartment, unscathed for the most part. Once inside, he set up all the wards and made sure there was absolutely no way inside.

Then he went to tend to his nephew.

The child was unharmed, but pretty much terrified. Poor kid sobbed and snuffled. Sighing, Harry held his nephew close and hummed to him, a tune James and Lily taught him. This relaxed the poor baby, who fell asleep once again.

"Geez..." Harry sighed again and ran his fingers through his nephew's dark hair. "I'll have to take extra care of you..."

"Yeah. They shouted something like "Stupefy" I think."

Harry was now talking on his phone to McGonagall about the attacks.

"So, what's the verdict, prof? Know what these wackos are and why they're after my nephew?"

Silence followed on the line.

"...Helloooooo? Kinda important here, ma'am."

"Yes, yes I know. I'd hoped this wouldn't happen, but... The Dark Lord's followers are after Harry Potter. For revenge I presume. Mister Dresden, I hate to ask this but... You have strong wards, correct?"

"Sure do. Why?"

"Until mister Potter's skills as a wizard are awakened, he needs to be kept safe. Within the wards."

"Wait. So, you're saying I need to just lock this kid up in my house until he's old enough to go to Fogfarts?"

"Hogwarts, mister Dresden. And until you can come up with a better solution, that's the best option we have."

"Sorry. I know he's in danger, but he needs to get out. Have fun. Be a kid."

"Mister Dresden-"

"Besides, it's not like Chicago is exactly safe without evil wizards. I'm a capable wizard, ma'am. And I've lived here most of my life. Junior will have a normal, er, normal_ish_ life. I can protect him when I have to, and teach him how to properly use magic. Everything will be fine, ma'am. I won't let anything happen to this kid."

Silence followed for a few seconds. She spoke up, her tone conveying amusement. "Junior?"

"It was getting confusing with two Harry's around. Have we come to an understanding ma'am?"

"Yes mister Dresden. He's your ward now, and I trust you to do what's best for him."

"Thanks prof. Call ya if anything comes up." and then he hung up.

Harry rubbed his eyes and looked at the sleeping baby on the couch. He frowned. Poor kid wasn't ever gonna have an easy life. He walked over and laid on the couch with his nephew, holding him protectively.

"Well, uncle Harry is gonna be here the whole time to help you through it. Don't worry kid, I'll do anything I can for you."


End file.
